We present a review and analysis of the rich body of research on the adoption and diffusion of IT-based innovations by individuals and organizations. Our review analyzes 48 empirical studies on individual and 51 studies on organizational IT adoption published between 1992 and 2003. In total, the sample contains 135 independent variables, eight dependent variables, and 505 relationships between independent and dependent variables. Furthermore, our sample includes both quantitative and qualitative studies. We were able to include qualitative studies because of a unique coding scheme, which can easily be replicated in other reviews. We use this sample to assess predictors, linkages, and biases in individual and organizational IT adoption research. The best predictors of individual IT adoption include Perceived Usefulness, Top Management Support, Computer Experience, Behavioral Intention, and User Support. The best predictors of IT adoption by organizations were Top Management Support, External Pressure, Professionalism of the IS Unit, and External Information Sources. At the level of independent variables, Top Management Support stands as the main linkage between individual and organizational IT adoption. But at an aggregate level, two collections of independent variables were good predictors of both individual and organizational IT adoption. These were innovation characteristics and organizational characteristics. Thus, we can consistently say that generic characteristics of the innovation and characteristics of the organization are strong predictors of IT adoption by both individuals and organizations. Based on an assessment of the predictors, linkages, and known biases, we prescribe 10 areas for further exploration.

PurposeTo identify key lessons, trends and enduring challenges with global outsourcing of back office services.Design/methodology/approachThe authors extract lessons, project trends, and discuss enduring challenges from a 20 year research program conducted by these authors and their extended network of co‐authors and colleagues.FindingsThe authors identify seven important lessons for successfully exploiting the maturing Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) markets. The lessons require back office executives to build significant internal capabilities and processes to manage global outsourcing. The authors predict 13 trends about the size and growth of ITO and BPO markets, about suppliers located around the world, and about particular sourcing models including application service provision, insourcing, nearshoring, rural sourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, freelance outsourcing, and captive centers. The authors identify five persistent, prickly issues on global outsourcing pertaining to back office alignment, client and supplier incentives, knowledge transfer, knowledge retention, and sustainability of outsourcing relationships.Originality/valueThe authors present some experimental innovations to address these issues.

Managing a global network of suppliers presents considerable challenges for large multinational corporations. Chief among these is how to effectively transfer knowledge among members of strategic alliances while maintaining tight control over intellectual property. This paper highlights the efforts of a Fortune 100 manufacturing firm (hereafter US Manufacturing) and its management of global IT suppliers. Using a social capital framework developed by Inkpen and Tsang (2005), we explore the supplier network at three levels (structural, cognitive, and relational) and present eight proven practices for creating, managing, and exploiting social capital within strategic alliances. The Inkpen and Tsang framework examines the linkages between knowledge transfer and social capital for three network types: intracorporate networks, strategic alliances, and industrial districts. We use the strategic alliance of US Manufacturing and its suppliers to illustrate salient social capital dimensions and the conditions and practices that facilitated knowledge transfer. These practices enabled US Manufacturing to improve knowledge transfer, decrease development costs, shorten cycle time, increase the quality of developed deliverables, quickly respond to changes in the regulatory environment, and, most importantly, build strong, strategic relationships with its suppliers.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to review recent trends and issues in global IT sourcing and to introduce papers in the special issue: "Social, managerial and knowledge aspects in global IT sourcing". Design/methodology/approach -The paper examines trends by regions including Brazil, Russia, India and China and also trends in Captive Centres and their strategies.Findings -There will be a continuing rise in outsourcing revenues for global outsourcing, with BPO overtaking ITO within five years. Multi-sourcing will continue to be the dominant trend. India will continue to dominate but its role will change. China heralds promise but will still struggle to achieve scale in Western European and North American markets. Emerging country competition will intensify. Software as a service will be a "slow burner" but will gain momentum in the second half of the next decade. Near-shoring will be a strong trend. Outsourcing, by offering a potential alternative, will help discipline in-house capabilities and service. Knowledge process outsourcing will increase as the BRIC and emerging countries move up the value chain. Captive activity -both buying and selling -will increase (see below). Outsourcing successes and disappointments will continue as both clients and suppliers struggle to deal with a highly dynamic set of possibilities Originality/value -The paper is of value to both academics and practitioners working in the field of IT sourcing. The study of captive centres is in its early stages and the paper introduces further work in this area. The global offshore outsourcing market for IT and business services exceeded $55 billion USD[1] in 2008, and some estimates suggest an annual growth rate of 15-20 per cent over the next five years. In 2008 India posted some 65 per cent of the ITO and 43 per cent of the BPO market (Willcocks and Lacity, 2009)[2]. It is common to talk of Brazil, Russia, India and China as the BRIC inheritors of globalisation, offering both offshore IT and back-office services, and also, with their vast populations and The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0959-3845.htm ITP 22,3

Impact sourcing is the practice of training and hiring marginalized individuals (people who normally would have few opportunities for good employment) to provide information technology (IT), business process, or other digitallyenabled services. Perhaps no other population is more marginalized than prisoners. Worldwide there are over six million prisoners, of which over two million are U.S. prisoners. In the U.S., 95 percent of inmates will one day be released. Prison employment programs are interventions aimed at preparing inmates to reenter society. We studied a special type of prison employment program: the hiring and training of prisoners to perform business services using a computer. The impact of prison sourcing needs to be understood in two distinct time periods: while in prison and after prison. Based on a case study at a U.S. Federal Correctional Institution employing 140 inmates in prison sourcing, we found evidence that prison sourcing for business services positively affects the inmates while in prison. The main benefits are good financial compensation, work habit development, productively occupying time, development of business skills, and the elevation of self-efficacy and status. We have almost no data about the impact on future prospects and explain why this gap happens.